Comparing Primordialist and Constructivist Views of Ethnicity and Race

The Primordialist View of Ethnicity

Compare And Contrast The Primordialist View Of Ethnicity Vs. That Of a Constructivist View. What Does It Mean That All Ethnicities Are Constructed? What Is Race? Are Races Also Constructed? Aren’t Some Aspects Of Ethnicity And Race Objective? Provide At Least One Example Of The Role Of Ethnic-Based Conflict In Politics. How This Conflict Would Be Viewed Differently If Ethnicity Were Primordial As Opposed To Being Socially Constructed?

Ethnicity has been analyzed through many perspectives. The primordialist view of ethnicity argues that ethnicity is an identity that is assigned by birth and thus is unchangeable. The view is built on the idea that human beings have some natural connection with people belonging to the same ethnicity, i.e. people belonging to the same race, religion, language or geographical location (Isajiw 1999). The primordialist view believes that ethnic identity is passed through generations and thus, is timeless and fixed. This view define ethnic differences and conflict as ancestral and irreconcilable which indicates that conflict between ethnicities are inevitable and ineradicable.

The constructivist view on the other hand is exactly the opposite of this. The constructivists believe that ethnic identity is socially constructed and migration, colonization and conquests change ethnic identities. The constructivist takes in to account the impacts of politics, history, society and economy in the constriction of ethnicity which the primordialist so not (Nigusie 2018). Moreover, constructivist view ethnicity as fluid and flexible which means that the ethnic conflicts too, are born out of reasons that are not ancestral hatred. Constructivists give importance to the role of language, history, symbols and culture as the source of ethnic rivalry while also giving equal importance to politics, economy and societal changes. The similarity between the two views is that neither of them gives much information about the timing of the conflict outbreak.

Ethnicity is believed to be constructed whether internally or externally. The internal construction means the actions and changes that ethnic groups go through within their ethnic community which reshapes their values, self-definition, cultural beliefs and practices. On the other hand, external construction can be caused by societal changes, economic influence and political processes that change the course of internal construction for ethnic groups. In this regard, all the ethnicities are constructed though their origin may vary.

Race is basically perceived as an inherent quality, biological quality that a person is born into and thus is unchangeable in human beings (Race: Stanford Encyclopedia Of Philosophy 2020). The idea of race was built upon some identifiable physical traits, skin color, height, facial structure and features to distinguish and categorize. Later this idea and definition of race has been questioned as it has been the basis of much of racial hatred and superiority theory resulting to mass killing or subjugation. The most modern definition of race differentiates through genetic structure and composition, a much reliable and scientific method.

The Constructivist View of Ethnicity

Both race and ethnicity have objective aspects ingrained in it. The most important among them is the ancestry. As both race and ethnicity is closely related to heredity and ancestry, they are objective in nature. This is because, ancestry and heredity changes with social intervention, migration and colonization (Blakemore and Boneham 1994). Union with people of other race or ethnicity changes the views, beliefs and assumptions that they have thus changing core values of the particular race. As both race and ethnicity is modified by social changes, they have objective aspects built into them.

There have been many instances of ethnic conflict all over the world in history. Among them, the Rwandan Genocide is among one of the most notable ethnic conflict that left deep impact on the world. The genocide started in 1994 and within 100 days, more than 800,000 people were dead. The genocide was started by the Hutu majority population on the Tutsi minority (Weir 2012). The tension had started since the days of Rwanda’s colonization when the minority Tutsi were favored by the colonizers which enabled the minorities to dominate over the majority. In the post-world war II scenario, the Hutu’s were becoming powerful and were forcing the Tutsis to leave the place. In 1994, the conflict started regarding a plane crash that was carrying the president of Burundi. Genocide spread all across the country and many of the Tutsis and the Hutu people died, making this one of the most horrific massacre.

If ethnicity was viewed only as primordial, this conflict would not have been viewed with a consideration of colonial influence and political outcome. The anger and tension that was born between the two groups during the colonial times, reflected during the genocide (Williams 2015). Moreover, the breakout of the genocide started with a political cause which would not have happened if ethnicity was primordial. The development of the history of conflict between the two groups tells that the conflict is borne out of hatred and political instigation and military intervention which supports the constructivist view of ethnicity. Thus, ethnicity cannot be seen as primordial and ethnic understanding needs consideration of social aspects.

References

"Race (Stanford Encyclopedia Of Philosophy)". 2020. Plato.Stanford.Edu. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/race/.

Blakemore, Ken, and Margaret Boneham. Age, Race and Ethnicity: A Comparative Approach. Rethinking Ageing Series. Open University Press, 1900 Frost Road, Suite 101, Bristol, PA 19007 (paperback: ISBN-0-335-19086-3; clothbound: ISBN-0-335-19234-3); Open University Press, Celtic Court, 22 Ballmoor, Buckingham, England, United Kingdom MK18 1XW., 1994.

Isajiw, Wsevolod W. "Definition and dimensions of ethnicity: A theoretical framework." Challenges of measuring an ethnic world: Science, politics and reality (1993): 407-427.

Nigusie, Alemu Asfaw. "An Integrated Approach to the Study of Ethnicity and Its Relevance to Ethiopia." Int'l J. Soc. Sci. Stud. 6 (2018): 38.

Weir, Naomi. "Primordialism, constructivism, instrumentalism and Rwanda." Retrieved September 19th (2012).

Williams, Dodeye Uduak. "How useful are the main existing theories of ethnic conflict?." Academic journal of interdisciplinary studies 4, no. 1 (2015): 147-147.